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One of the most helpful things we have done this year was revising our job description. We eliminated a number of things that we were not doing or did not need to be doing and highlighted a couple of key areas important to us. We feel like we now have received permission and blessing to operate in our areas of strength.

Very interesting. See a picture, text and then hear an audio interview with someone who used to hold one of these now largely obsolete jobs. My favorites: Lector and Lamplighter Thanks to Kruse Kronicle

I don’t know what God has in mind for me but at least he is consistent with his communication. I am just trying to get through this process but maybe there is something more for me.

Yesterday, there was the question from John 1:35ff, “What are you seeking?” Ouch–fame, success, respect, significance–maybe not so good eh? And as I have been focusing on Psalm 128 this week, it is quite clear that as we maintain a fear of God, he delights to bless the work of our hands, it shall go well with you. But, the fear of God comes first, the total surrender of everything before him–including my dissertation?

And then my wife sent me this article from Breakpoint about turning drudergy into worship. Come on! I just read a dissertation today in which the guy said someone told him to “just finish it” but maybe that is not for me?

“turn every act, no matter how small, into an opportunity to serve God and worship Him through the work of your hands—no matter how seemingly “secular” the work is that you find yourself called to do. . . there is no task, no matter how seemingly insignificant or rote, that cannot be transformed into worship when the heart is inclined to give that act unto God as a spiritual act of worship.

Okay already but we are talking about something supernatural happening. Hmmm, maybe that is the point?

From How Do Innovators Think in Harvard Business Review, September 28, 2009, by Bronwyn Fryer in an interview with Professors Jeff Dyer of Brigham Young University and Hal Gregersen of Insead. Found this in Kruse Kronicles.

The following are the top five most discovery skills that creative executives possess:

“associating.” It’s a cognitive skill that allows creative people to make connections across seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas.

questioning — an ability to ask “what if”, “why”, and “why not” questions that challenge the status quo and open up the bigger picture.

ability to experiment — the people we studied are always trying on new experiences and exploring new worlds.

good at networking with smart people who have little in common with them, but from whom they can learn.

Most important?

Questioning turbo-charges observing, experimenting, and networking, but questioning on its own doesn’t have a direct effect without the others. Overall, associating is the key skill because new ideas aren’t created without connecting problems or ideas in ways that they haven’t been connected before. The other behaviors are inputs that trigger associating — so they are a means of getting to a creative end.

Summary

You might summarize all of the skills we’ve noted in one word: “inquisitiveness.”

Just read a fascinating article, The Case for Working with your hands by Matthew B. Crawford that was passed onto me by my wife. I have always had a high respect for people in the trades, who could create something with their hands. Sadly, being a tradesman here where I live is not an esteemed profession to which one would aspire. The goal for too many is to go to college, graduate and work in an air conditioned office behind a computer! Something is wrong with this picture! Reading Crawford may remind you of values we have forgotten in our post-modern culture. He notes, “A good job requires a field of action where you can put your best capacities to work and see an effect in the world. Academic credentials do not guarantee this.”

As somone who has spent most of my life in academics, I think I need to learn a new hobby in my old age!

The ‘U’ stands for utility, or the desire to complete a given task. It is equal to the product of E, the expectation of success, and V the value of completion, divided by the product of I, the immediacy of the task, and D, the personal sensitivity to delay.

I don’t know how you would ever begin to measure those variables but it is interesting to consider the inter-relationships.